canislupus: try Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts) instead of Ritalin, as others recommended. You sound like you're ADHD-I like me. Exercise helps as you noticed (sports), anything that gets your heart rate up for 30-45 minutes, biking being my favorite choice. Remove artificials and most refined sugar from your diet. I'm able to get away with a lower dose of Adderall than most, just 20mg once per day instead of 30mg twice per day, so long as I get my cardio workouts. Hopefully I won't have to raise that later.

I think there's a lot to the theory that ADHD is (usually?) caused by an immune system disorder, as discussed in other threads. 60-70% of your immune system is in your gut, thus why dietary cleanup helps.

I think everyone should get their diet and exercise habits fixed before trying drugs, both because I suspect that there are a lot of borderline cases that don't need meds and because you won't need as high of a dose if lifestyle changes prove inadequate. Getting the "noise" caused by petrochemicals (artificial coloring, flavoring and preservatives) out of your system is critical. It also makes your request for meds more credible since at that point you've tried just about everything else.

I've found that fast-twitch video games are much less interesting these days. I suspect you'll find the same once you find a treatment regimin that works.

Hi everyone...I want to network with other people who have SCT so we can share our experiences, etc. I'm now doing better than ever, but I'm not done yet. I've had a lot of experience with a lot of different medications, and although I'm not quite there yet, I'm confident that it's possible to be all but cured.

I just started a Facebook group called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo. You might be able to find it by searching, or message me and I'll tell you how to add me. Let me know if there's anywhere else on the internet where a lot of us are gathering & sharing ideas. Thanks!

I think there's a lot to the theory that ADHD is (usually?) caused by an immune system disorder, as discussed in other threads. 60-70% of your immune system is in your gut, thus why dietary cleanup helps.

I am skeptic. Sure enough, you should eat well and drop the junk food if that's what you live on, and refined carbs are not good at all. I know they make me more hazy. But I dont think our condition is caused by an immune system disorder and largely dependent on eating habits. I was raised on really healthy food and lots of excercise like riding my bicycle to school - 30 km/day. It made no difference.

The funny thing is that since I am taking medication, I never ever feel the need for a carb fix anymore. Not that I had a problem with that .. but occasionally, I could turn into a mini-cookie-monster ... those oreo's you have in North America!!! But after the first three and the initial "wow" I always got really tired, slowed down and it just felt bad.

Meds made me clear up, and I started to force myself to exercise more by moving to a place where I could walk to work in 40 minutes. So I did. The first weeks it was tiring, but then it became relaxing and fun. And I felt myself grow strong and leaner .. it's wonderful. I can't walk to work right now .. I am back in Europe and work in Amsterdam so I have to bike / train / streetcar .. but I walk every day at least an hour. With wings on my feet.

I still have enough appetite, but the tiredness, sluggishness is definitely better and does not bother me anymore.

So yes, I do agree that exercise is very important. But I knew that all along .. and I have tried and tried to build that into my daily pattern for years and failed every time. Because I couldn't be bothered, because I forgot, because I felt no improvement, because I really, deeply, totally loathe "gyms" so I had to drag myself there (that works maybe three times, and then no more).

The difference is that, with meds, it is doable, and it works.

__________________then softly she began to sing / a theme of sleep and slumbering
wandering, woven with deeper spell / than songs wherewith in ancient dell
Melian did once the twilight fill / profound, and fathomless, and still.-- the Lay of Leithian. J.R.R. Tolkien

I didn't mean to imply that ADHD is largely caused by eating habits, just that poor diet aggravates ADHD and should be corrected as part of a complete treatment approach. Dealing with diet and exercise first makes calibrating meds easier. I suspect that there are a lot of marginal cases out there that would be "good enough" with just diet and exercise but probably very few who've taken the trouble to come here. I needed meds, but if I get lazy about exercise I notice the difference.

"Immune system dysfunction" covers an awful lot. Gut, allergies in general, Group A Strep antibodies that have been implicated in a small percentage of ADHD cases, inflammation, etc. All you can do is fix the pieces of the puzzle as you find them.

Second, there is no evidence that motor training influences higher-level skills; for example, if training coordination, balance, and motor skill had the hypothesized effect, then children good at sports like skateboarding should have a low rate of dyslexia and ADHD, an effect that has not been observed.

__________________

Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.

Yeah I would be labeled SCT as well, but my perspective is we are only slow moving when we are "lost in thought". When my mind is rapidly moving around I can be very sluggish and slow because I can't seem to work towards any specific duty. This sounds an awfully alike to ADD? Being overly shy, withdrawn, and hypoactive can be derived from depression and anxiety, not to mention people can have introverted personalities to begin with. (intro's are reclusive and withdrawn) When I'm happy and had a fulfilling day I'm not at all shy or slow.

When is comes to being slow at processing information, that is because we are not hyperfocused. When a ADD'er is not hyperfocused, they are not really focused at all, right? What I've read somewhere is that neurotypical people operate at around 20%-30% (possibly a bit lower or higher given the circumstance) of their energy(both mental and physical) at a steady rate. ADD'ers however operate at a steady 10% (hence being slow), but once into something(hyperfocused) they exert an outstanding 80-100%) This all stems from the Farmer and hunter theory of ADD. Innattentives (high theta brainwaves) energy goes inwards, when hyperactives (high alpha brainwaves) exert their energy outwards. If none of this is true for you, and you just feel like your slow cogntively then, you might be SCT.

Keep in mind this is all theoretical and based from my own perception from what I've read (Mostly in the 'Da Vinci Method' by Garret LaPorto.

There is an update to Barkley 2000 at UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Distinguished Lecturer Series February 2007. Details on SCT are sketchy, but there is definitely movement (OHHH SOOO SLOOWW!) in that direction.

As I e-mailed to Dr. Barkley, "may I recommend: 'Restricted Cognitive Tempo'? Being likened to an animal, reptile, or invertebrate of sloth all my life is getting old. Besides, look at it from the inside, I can see that my brain is not always slow, but something besides me decides where my thoughts will go.

Weird, I hadn't heard of this until today. I'm ADHD with an emphasis on the "H" - I can't sit still, ever. My two younger siblings, on the other hand, seem to fit the SCT definition perfectly. They've both always been more than happy to let me (when we were growing up) or someone else (ever since) take the lead and tell them what to do. All of us are inattentive in a big way, but my reaction to my problems is to act out and speak up, while they both tend to just quiet down and accept their weaknesses. Their approach is probably better.

Weird, I hadn't heard of this until today. I'm ADHD with an emphasis on the "H" - I can't sit still, ever. My two younger siblings, on the other hand, seem to fit the SCT definition perfectly. They've both always been more than happy to let me (when we were growing up) or someone else (ever since) take the lead and tell them what to do. All of us are inattentive in a big way, but my reaction to my problems is to act out and speak up, while they both tend to just quiet down and accept their weaknesses. Their approach is probably better.

I don't think that the "sluggishness" has anything to do with accepting weakness (perceived, suggested or real) or letting oneself be lead.

I am most definitely of this type, but at the same time I have never let anyone tell me what to do, or accept things that I thought could be worked on or improved. However, I do tend to avoid people that are aggressive or stomping over me because I hate conflict. But that has never meant defeat: I always fight back, and get where I want in the end, be it in my own way, in my own tempo.

If there is one thing that I have heard which stuck in my head forever it is Winston Churchill's words at the onset of WW2: "We will never surrender."

I have always felt that others judged my "being slow" or other characteristics as "weakness". They were wrong .

__________________then softly she began to sing / a theme of sleep and slumbering
wandering, woven with deeper spell / than songs wherewith in ancient dell
Melian did once the twilight fill / profound, and fathomless, and still.-- the Lay of Leithian. J.R.R. Tolkien

[quote=Luthien;687795]I don't think that the "sluggishness" has anything to do with accepting weakness (perceived, suggested or real) or letting oneself be lead...If there is one thing that I have heard which stuck in my head forever it is Winston Churchill's words at the onset of WW2: "We will never surrender."

I impulsively started that other SCT Thread before finding this one. I am anxious to find others who live with SCT. What's it been like for you? (I have a bagillion questions.)

The Locus ceruleus, also spelled locus caeruleus or locus coeruleus (Latin for 'the blue spot'), is a nucleus in the brain stem involved with physiological responses to stress and panic.

In stress

The locus ceruleus is responsible for mediating many of the sympathetic effects during stress. The locus ceruleus is activated by stress, and will respond by increasing norepinephrine secretion, which in turn will increase cognitive function (through the prefrontal cortex), increase motivation (through nucleus accumbens), activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and increase the sympathetic discharge/inhibit parasympathetic tone (through the brainstem). Specific to the activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal axis, norepinephrine will stimulate the secretion of corticotropin-releasing factor from the hypothalamus, which induces adrenocorticotropic hormone release from the anterior pituitary and subsequent cortisol synthesis in the adrenal glands. Norepinephrine released from locus ceruleus will feedback to inhibit its production, and corticotropin-releasing hormone will feedback to inhibit its production, while positively feeding to the locus ceruleus to increase norepinephrine production.

To dumb this down: This area of the brain does not CAUSE stress, but it is activated during stress. THIS is the starting point for the release of norepinephrine and adrenaline.

Most of us SCTers feel very little stress... And we think slowly. Coincidence? I don't think so.

There is a supplement called Pyritinol that stimulates this area of the brain. I take it every day. Literally, it makes me think faster. Pyritinol, combined with amphetamines (which indirectly act on the LC) is THE best cure I have found for sluggishness and motivation difficulties.

I am certain it is much more complicated than this, but I DO believe that there is a problem with THIS area of the brain in us SCTers. Because anything that stimulates this area of the brain makes me think faster.

So.... slowly but surely.... we're getting closer....

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